Secrets
by Razzaroo
Summary: Charden has secrets. Creed has secrets. The Doctor has secrets. Kyoko is determined to dig up at least one. [Set during House of Bones]


**A/N. I have no sense of self control. I'm very sorry.**

* * *

><p>This is the first time Kyoko's been out in the boat for a long time. Charden's been too busy to take her out and it seems like none of the others take much notice of her and Leon, not now that Chronos is gone. Leon, being a boy and all of thirteen years old, doesn't mind and stays in his room most of the time, more than happy to be left with his Nintendo.<p>

Kyoko, on the other hand, missed Charden.

"Hey, Charden, where did Shiki and Maro go?" she asks, sitting right against the railing of the dinghy boat, kicking her bare feet in the sea. The water still has a chill, though she barely notices.

"Home," he replies, checking the boat over for bugs and hidden cameras, "They achieved what they wanted."

"Which was?" Kyoko twists to look at him.

"Proving their superiority," satisfied that there's nothing spying on them, Charden takes a seat beside her, looking across the stretch of blue water, "Why should they stay?"

Kyoko shrugs, "No reason. They could have said goodbye, at least."

She kicks up an arc of sea water, watching the sunlight catch and glitter in the drops. They drop down into the waving sea with soft plinks, spreading tiny ripples over the shifting water. Charden sits silently and watches as she kicks up a cloud of white foam, bubbles swelling and bursting. It's a comfortable silence but Kyoko feels like there's something on Charden's mind, weighing him down.

"Charden?" she says, tentatively approaching the cloud on his shoulders, "Are you OK?"

For a long time, Charden doesn't speak. He sits and he watches the waves; Kyoko almost regrets speaking. She wishes that she'd thought to bring her phone with her.

"Do you remember the conversation we had when Durham died?" Charden says eventually, "About Creed and the Apostles?"

"Yeah," Kyoko drags the word out, unsure of where Charden's going, "You were thinking about leaving." She perks up a little, "Are you gonna tell me why you didn't?"

The tension runs out of Charden's shoulders, "Well, much like Shiki and Maro, I had…no, _have _my own goals. The first of those goals has been achieved."

"Getting rid of Chronos, yeah?"

"Yes."

"So what's the second one?"

Behind his glasses, Charden's eyes harden and become guarded, "To create a free world."

Sometimes, but only sometimes, Kyoko found herself becoming irritated with Charden. Mostly, it happened when he wasn't being clear. She can understand being vague sometimes but when it's an answer to a straightforward question? She hates that.

"How?" she asks.

Charden gives her the barest smile, "I can't tell you yet; no solid plans."

"Oh, OK," Kyoko says lamely. She feels like Charden's just keeping secrets but she knows better than to press him, "Next question. Why?"

"Because I disagree with what Creed's doing," Charden heaves a sigh and he suddenly seems a lot older, "He's no different to Chronos. Innocent people are being hurt." He rubs his forehead. "And I hate how secretive the Doctor is being."

"You think he's doing stuff he shouldn't be doing?"

"I've never been a fan of the Doctor's work. I don't think a man like him should have been given the powers he has," Charden pauses again, "Doctor Tearju would be a much better alternative."

"Yeah, I've forgotten who that is," Kyoko says. A wind buffets her hair, whipping it into her face. She frowns down at the foam that laps at the side of the boat, "Hey, Charden?"

"Hm?"

"Is there stuff I haven't been told? You know, about those, uh, those Numbers Creed has?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are they there? I thought Creed wanted them all dead."

"You know," Charden says slowly, tucking some of her windswept hair away from her face, "There's nothing stopping you from going down there yourself."

* * *

><p>There are guards outside one of the cells along the corridor Kyoko wants. She knows that there's nothing they can say or do to stop her from being here; she outstrips their rank by far. However, that means nothing to her when what she wants is some privacy. She huffs and goes back along the corridor she just walked down.<p>

One of the cells stands open; this one is reserved for punishing soldiers who Creed either doesn't want to or can't replace. There's a thin wool blanket folded on the end of the low bench. Kyoko reaches into her bag to pull out the scrunched ball of paper she'd stashed earlier; she'd come prepared.

She glances up and down the corridor to make sure she's not being watched before she holds the paper on her flat palm. Flames lick at the paper and she tosses it lightly into the cell, aiming so that it bounced near to the blanket. With a flick of her wrist, she sends the small fire to kiss the edge of the blanket. The smell of burning stings her nose and quickly hurries back to watch the other corridor, waiting for the guards to move.

Eventually, the smell of smoke becomes strong enough that the guards leave their post to investigate. Kyoko, never one to waste an opportunity, allows the flames to flare up enough to keep them busy for as long as she wants.

She creeps along the corridor. The door that the guards have just abandoned is giving her major '_keep away_' vibes and the voice behind it only serves to creep her out more.

"Oi," there's a tapping on a door further down the corridor, "You!"

Kyoko freezes. Slowly, she approaches the talking door and peers through the slot at the top. Inside the cell is dark, the only one unlit, but she can make out the shape of the Number sitting against the wall by the door. A short chain attached to his collar keeps him from standing. Kyoko rubs her fingers together to produce a small flame for light.

"I know you!" she says, "You tried to kill me that one time!"

The flame's reflection dances in his black eyes, "If I remember right, you tried to return the favour."

Kyoko pauses for a moment, listening for the guards. The Number tips his head to the side and she sees him smirk.

"I thought you promised Heartnet that you wouldn't use those powers again."

"I said I wouldn't kill anyone again," Kyoko puffs her chest in pride, "And I haven't, even when all of your Chronos buddies tried to kill me."

"Your parents must be very proud."

"You say that like yours are."

"They were, actually," he pulls his knee up and props his chin on it, "Number IV; that's only a step down from the Big Three, as Baldorias calls them."

Something twitches beneath his eye and Kyoko recoils from the door, disturbed by the emptiness that falls across his eyes, blanking out the annoyance. It looks almost like the Number's been erased from his own body. Tentatively, she peeks back in to see him shaking his head, an odd twitchy motion that reminds her of a horror film she'd sat up watching with her friends a long while ago.

"What just happened?" she asks, "You just went all…"

Her voice trails off when he looks back up at her. The Number's come back and there's a hard, angry glint in his eyes that wasn't there before. Kyoko just stares back down on him; he doesn't scare her, especially not in the state he's in.

"You say that like you don't know."

"Because I don't?" Kyoko says, cocking an eyebrow, "I haven't been told anything about what Doctor does, except that he's gonna help Creed make the world a better place and all that crap."

"Better world and Creed? In the same sentence?"

"You're the Chronos guy; I thought you'd know."

"And you believe that line of shit?"

She shrugs, "A little bit."

What he does next is completely unexpected; he laughs. He leans his head against the wall behind him and his shoulders shake, the sound of his laughter low and starting deep in his belly.

"I've never seen you laugh before," she says, "I don't think I like it." He ignores her and it seems as if his laughter just gets louder. Kyoko scowls and presses her hand against the door, "Stop that; you're givin' me the creeps. And those guards will wonder what's going on."

"You really are a gullible idiot," the Number says when his laughing fit subsides, "Creed Diskenth doesn't want anything but power for himself. You should have left him when you had the chance in Stock Town. Then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Would you have still tried to kill me?" she asks.

"More than likely, yes."

"Then I don't know how it would have made any difference to me."

He just shrugs, as if giving up on something completely hopeless, "So why are you here? To set things on fire? That's all you're good at, no?"

It takes three deep breaths and a reminder of what Mr. Black had said to her to keep from burning that sardonic look off of his face. She straightens her shoulders and looks down at him through the peephole, trying to radiate superiority.

"I wanted to know Doctor's secrets," she says, "And now I do."

"Why now?"

She thinks back to the conversation on the boat, with Charden. She knows that he's known all along what Doctor's been doing; in truth, she really wants to know what's so awful that he won't tell her about it. She gets the feeling that it's the other Number behind the first door and whatever the Doctor's done to him is giving her serious vibes; the moment of emptiness and the twitching in this one gives her the impression that he's meddling with things he's not supposed to be.

She hopes she and Charden can get the hell out before it all backfires.

"Because I can," she says finally. She's not about to give him a proper reason; she still hasn't forgotten the time he nearly cut her face in two, "That's why."

In the next corridor, she can hear the guards; they've managed to stamp the fire out and are debating whether or not to report it to Creed or just clean it up and cover up that it happened. They'll be coming back in a bit and Kyoko doesn't want to get caught talking to a Chronos Number as if they're estranged friends.

"I gotta bounce," she says, tugging on her bag strap, "I'll ask Creed if we can have a rematch in his arena, finish off what was happenin' in Stock Town. I've really liked my little romps with Chronos Numbers."

His lip curls, "If it gives me a chance to slice that smile of your face, I'll be happy to "romp" with you again in the arena."


End file.
